Customer retention is as important as getting new customers. Here’s the 10 Best Practices for Customer Retention and how you do it.
It takes a lot of effort to gain a customer, and once you’ve got them, you won’t want them to slip out of your grasp. That’s why it’s important to focus your energy not just on getting customers but also on customer retention.
In this blog, we’ll run through ten of the best practices for doing just that.
Get Feedback
It’s much easier to give your existing customers what they want if, well, you know what they want. By taking the time to collect feedback from your customers, you’ll have an in-depth insight into what they like, what they don’t like, and what they hope to see in the future. And that, of course, is one of the best business reports that you can have!
Getting feedback won’t only help direct the future of your customer experience. It’ll also show your customers that you care about their thoughts and opinions. And that’s something that everyone appreciates.
Take a Stand
It’s questionable how loyal customers are to specific brands. In reality, they’re probably more loyal to the ethics and principles that guide the company. People like Patagonia, for instance, because of its deep commitment to environmental issues. If the brand suddenly became disinterested in the environment, then the loyal customers would quickly go away.
Long story short: show the world what you stand for, and make sure you genuinely do stand for those things. You’ll find that people that want to support those types of companies come on board — and stick around, too.
Loyalty Programs
It feels like many companies give away all their best deals to their new customers. That makes sense from their perspective, but it’s a bit, dare we say, rude to the customers they currently have. Could you start a loyalty program? Nothing will make people think twice before moving companies, like knowing they’ll be rewarded for loyalty. Think of it like the ‘Buy 9 Coffees, Get One Free’ card that cafes hand out, then adapt for your own business.
Excellent Customer Service
It doesn’t matter how awesome your products and services are: if your customer service is awful, then people won’t just think about leaving; they’ll positively run out of the door. Investing in your customer service does take time, effort, and money, but it’ll pay off in the long run — and cost you if you don’t invest.
Use CRM Software
Don’t put the strength of your customer relationships in the hands of intuition and paper documents. Make it more professional. In this day and age, all of the world’s leading companies rely on CRM — customer relationship management — software to manage their customer cycle. Software like Purple Potato can function as your one-stop shop for ensuring your customers are happy from beginning to end.
Continue to Innovate
No one’s going to stay on a sinking ship when there’s a liferaft available. If you can continue to innovate and improve your products and services, then people will pay attention. Or perhaps it would be better to say that they’ll certainly notice if you’re taking your eye off the ball.
Smooth Processes
It’s not just the products that your customers buy from you that count. Everything around that purchase is crucial, too. For instance, if they’re paying online, how easy is it for the customer to get through the checkout process? How long do they typically have to wait for the package to arrive? If the answers to those questions are “not easy” and “longer than normal,” then your customers will soon be casting flirtatious glances at other companies.
Throw in a Surprise
Who doesn’t love a surprise from time to time? It can be enough to bring a failing relationship back from the edge. There’s no shortage of surprises you can throw in for your customers. It could be an unexpected discount, a freebie in their package, or any other type of much-wanted bonus that they haven’t asked for.
Social Media and Email Marketing
You’ll have worked hard to get your customer’s attention in the first place. Don’t let it go without a fight! By having engaging social media accounts and investing in your email marketing, you can ensure that you’re never too far from the forefront of their minds.
Go Above and Beyond
Finally, the best method for keeping your customers? Make them happy. To do that, just look at going above and beyond whenever possible. There’s nearly always something you can do that’ll help ensure your customers have a positive experience. Live with that in mind, and you won’t lose many!
